Yet another reminder that there is no First Amendment in Europe:
British historian David Irving was arrested last week in southern Austria on a warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
…
Irving was detained on a warrant issued in 1989 under Austrian laws that make Holocaust denial a crime, [an Interior Ministry spokesman] said.
…
If formally charged, tried and convicted on the charge, Irving could face up to 20 years in prison…
As despicable as Holocaust deniers are, isn’t it better to subject their theories to objective repudiation — and subsequently to ridicule — than to teach post-Holocaust generations that some ideas are taboo?
The best weapon against a lie is not the law, but the truth.
POST SCRIPT #1: Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia saying nice things about Jews will earn you 750 lashes.
POST SCRIPT #2: Here’s the hat trick.
3 responses so far ↓
Link Andrew Cory // Nov 18, 2005 at 12:43 am
How do you feel abut DeBathification? Or the post WWII de-nazification? The Hungarian article made me think of them fairly immediately…
Not that I'm in favor of what the government has done in that case, but some context is useful…
[Kip replies: There's a difference between purging past tyrants from the governmetn and suppressing freedom of speech for years or decades.]
Link tIM // Nov 18, 2005 at 11:12 am
I used the think the same thing that just telling the truth will offset lies. but now as I age i'm willing to toy with the idea of "truth in teaching" to many fringe groups hide under the skirts of free speech and are able to raise impressionable followers thru out right lies. maybe only for certian positions and authors they would have to at least prove that what they say is not directly contridictory to the truth. I know it's dangerous ground but I'm at a loss to understand these people.
Link Mahndisa // Nov 18, 2005 at 12:40 pm
Yeah, Holocaust denial is ridiculous and one could argue that it isn't protected free speech because the utterance of the denial causes tacit harm. But that is still a stretch IMHO. And I think the bigger picture is that all around the world right now, our individual rights are being usurped under the ostensible greater good moniker. Hmph! That is bothersome to me. In England, they passed a law that forbids folks from cooing at newborns in the hospital. Now tell me, don't you see a trend here?
http://mitchormike.blogspot.com/2005/11/cooing-banned-in-england.html" rel="nofollow">Mitch/Mike's blog about recent BBC article